Saints Row creator Chris Stockman admitted that during development of the first title the team “essentially took the design from Grand Theft Auto,” while noting the game still possessed “enough distinctive elements” of its own.
Stockman told FRVR in an interview:
I found myself asking, “Am I playing GTA?” The answer was no — yet it undeniably felt that way.
He added that a crucial factor in the game’s success was that Saints Row arrived before GTA IV on the Xbox 360:
The timing of the release was a major advantage. The platform lacked open-world games of that kind — had GTA IV already captured players’ attention, interest in this title would have been much lower.
Stockman stressed that Saints Row’s distinguishing features included extensive character customization and a day/night cycle, and he went on to note:
The game launched in August, ahead of the holiday season, so it didn’t have to compete directly with titles like Oblivion or Gears of War.
Source: iXBT.games